So I had a think about those Eldar power generators, and decided that there indeed was a better way to do them. I snipped out the wooden crystals from the centers, and have ordered some coloured plastic crystals from ebay to replace them. Still not fully sure how to do the replacement, but I'll figure something out. Probably with some wires to look like crackling beams of power or something.

Speaking of crystals, I've been thinking about and working on new Super Dungeon things for a while now, which has motivated me to make my first purchase for the game in quite a while. It's the Dungeons Of Crystalia tile pack that took my fancy, after I decided I needed more varied maps. Believe it or not, I actually first tried to buy this pack a couple of years ago, but there was a mix up somehow with the delivery and it never arrived. After getting my money back, I convinced myself that I didn't actually need to buy it. But I saw it randomly pretty cheap so went for it again. What the hell. Only live once. And if my new rules work I'll be happy to have them.

I've also taken the spare wooden squares that I bought for The Shipwreck Arcana build, and have made some more "terrain thingies" for Super Dungeon, just in case we find we need them.

MDF terrain looking to get plastic surgery

The Crystal Dungeons await...

More terrain thingies

The first half of 2022 was not too bad on the miniature painting front, but I fell far short of the 4 armies I was hoping to complete before the summer months.

After the weather cooled, I just couldn't get back into the habit, and until recently I had not picked up a brush since June.

However, I found myself with a run of six days with no work during December. Though I probably should have been thinking about getting Christmas sorted, I instead decided to dive back in at the deep end and have a massive painting week.

Rather than continue working on the things I'd already started, I had the bright idea to try and paint my entire 6mm android army within the six day period. Difficult, at my painting speed, but as they are mostly metallic, I thought it might be possible.

Of course, I was wrong.

It's not like I didn't try either. On two of the days, I painted for 10 hours straight, and there was also an 8 hour shift, two 6 hours and a 4. I just don't paint fast enough to get shit done.

I didn't help my cause when I realised too late that I had not fully cleaned the mold lines when I assembled the army back in 2009. Oh well. Too late to worry about that at this point, so I just soldiered on. They're an unoffical army anyway, so getting them done in a quick and cheap way would be fine by me.

I threw further wrenches into the gears when I decided the walkers needed proper bases, so I glued them onto some cheap 25mm bases I'd got, and plugged the gaps using thinned down filler. They do look a lot better, and more closely match the Ork Stompers in size now, which are their most direct comparison.

After the six days were up, I'd made some progress, but I was a long way off. Half of the infantry and all of the walkers were base painted and washed, awaiting highlights. The other half of the infantry was mostly base painted, just needing a few more details on the weapons and things. But I had not started the three big models at all.

Laying down the basic metallics

Working on base colours

New bases for the walkers

After six days of (little) progress

We got the new Epic rules back to the tabletop recently in a good weekend of dice rollin' action. Up first Gareth took control of the Imperials against Scoob, who was using the android army I put together from Dark Realm Miniatures many years ago. This was the first time these two armies had been used in these new rules, and it came right down to the wire.

After a few hours of exchanging laser blasts and missiles, and the clashing of blades on armour, the androids won the day by just 43 pts. In a 6000pt game, 43pts is basically nothing.

The Androids get ready to open fire

The Majestic Titan and Reaver Titan stare each other down, as the Wolf Lord slices the Alpha Commander into pieces

The Imperial forces advance on enemy territory

The day after, it was my turn to take control of the Imperial forces, as Scoob brought the Nidz into the game for the first time, leaving only the Eldar and Squats in need of introduction.

In another 6000pt game, volleys of battlecannon and lascannon fire tore into the Nidz. They pulled it back somewhat once they got closer in, but I managed a 3452-2884 win. It definitely seemed like the Nidz psychic powers need buffing, and some of their units need a little combat boost, so I'll make that happen for their next Epic-S adventure.

The Imperials and Tyranids face off across the ruined town

The Bio-Titans bear down on the beleaguered Reaver Titan

Imperial Drop Troops find themselves surrounded by Termagants

<Old Stuff>

It's about time some stuff from my old website returned from the pits of obscurity.

And what could be more obscure than my first ever battle report, using a long forgotten homebrew ruleset, with miniatures from my first ever Games Workshop purchase all the way back in the early 90s?

Warhammer Fantasy Regiments

Now I can not lie. I never actually played Warhammer. Well, that is, other than one demo game in a Games Workshop after the release of fourth edition, during which Scooby's goblins beat my high elves, drawing gasps of shock from the red shirts, as goblins never won the demo game.
Yep, that's my wargaming skill in action right there.

Still, in my very early wargaming years it seemed like I was going to get more into fantasy than sci-fi, something that I assume changed when I fell in love with the look of Epic Space Marine.

In the early 90s, I collected quite a few fantasy models. Indeed, the first GW purchase I ever made was the "Warhammer Fantasy Regiments" box, which had ten each of wood elves, dwarves, goblins, orcs, skaven and dark elves. I think what I wanted to do, even as a young teenager, was create my own rules. But other than a few little attempts nothing much came of them, especially as other games took hold of me.

Of these attempts, records of just one remained, and from these historical documents, I created a battle report for my old site back in January 2015. That report is now resurrected here.

Show / hide battle report

Kazgor's Legion Vs. The Imperial Renegades Warhammer Battle Report

Stebloke (Kazgor) and Pencil (Renegades) battle it out using their own homebrew ruleset, using only the contents of the Warhammer Fantasy Regiments boxset. Battle fought in the early 1990s.

Deployment

Deployment

The Battle Begins

The battle began as The Renegades made their move for the bridge. In response, Kazgor urged his middle group forwards to face the firing line of dark elves and goblins that were forming on the other side of the pool.
The elves and goblin on Kazgor's left flank jumped up on to the log to try and get a better view of the battlefield. Mirroring them, The Renegades elves to the east sprang up on to the log there to open fire on Kazgor's flanking minions. However, a hail of bolts and arrows greeted them and cut them all down, and more Renegades desperately tried to move up in support.
The Renegades in the middle held their ground as Kazgor's warriors charged over the bridge. Looking to encircle them, Renegades dwarves flanked the pool on one side, while a dark elf and skaven moved around the other. The two sides exchanged arrows as they closed in for the kill.

The Battle Begins

The Battle Continues

As the battle lines drew close, the Renegades dark elves and goblins in the middle brought down four approaching enemies with accurate fire, before the two sides charged in to each other. In response, Kazgor's followers could only bring down a single skaven in close combat.
Meanwhile to the east, Kazgor suffered more set backs as the tougher dwarves and orcs charged into his flanking warriors and set about the lightly armoured elves.
In the middle, the Renegades dwarves emerged from the bushes, lining up a charge on their opposing kinsmen. Kazgor's elves failed in their efforts to bring down the flanking skaven and dark elf, and the battle looked like it was turning against the cowardly dwarf.

The Battle Continues

The Battle Is Won

The surviving ranged Renegades in the middle turned their attention to Kazgor's elves, leaving just one standing for the flanking skaven and dark elf to charge and kill. The skaven and orc counter attack over the bridge forced Kazgor's troops back, and the Renegades dwarves charged in to help mop up. With his plans in tatters, Kazgor himself finally decided to join the battle. Swinging his warhammer wildly, he charged from the bushes where he'd been shouting commands, but was too late to reach combat.
To the east, Kazgor's troops finally broke through the stubborn Renegades line, hacking down all their foes. But they had lost too many fighters and their victory had taken too long. Observing the battlefield, it was obvious that the Renegades had claimed victory.

The Battle Is Won